Toyota Echo

More proof that 14 grand still buys a decent car.

February 2000
By
LARRY WEBSTER
Photos By
KEN HANNA

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Many of us here at 2002 Hogback prefer small cars over big ones. Why? For starters, small cars allow a light, agile feel you don't get in, say, a wallowing, oversized sport-ute. Second, lightness breeds speed, and what easier way to make a car light than to make it small? And finally, most small cars cost less than big ones.

For the past two decades, Toyota has covered the small, cheap end of the market with the competent but generally uninspiring Tercel. Its virtues were a low price (the most recent Tercel sedan cost just a bit more than an entry-level Korean sedan) and the promise of Toyota reliability and resale value (a three-to-five-year-old Tercel brings about five percent better resale value than a Hyundai Accent or Kia Sephia). In terms of performance and driving fun, however, the Tercel was frequently trumped by its Korean and American competition.

But with this new Echo sedan, Toyota plans to change all of that. The price, size, and weight remain in the entry-level ballpark, but its 1.5-liter engine boasts variable valve timing and cranks out 108 horsepower. That puts its power-to-weight ratio on a par with cars one step up, such as the Dodge/Plymouth Neon or the Echo's big brother, the Corolla. And the Echo's tall-boy styling is anything but bland.

The Echo is certainly small on the outside. At 163.2 inches long, it's 0.8 inch shorter than a Chevy Metro sedan and more than 11 inches shorter than a Kia Sephia. It's also narrow -- only the slenderest of econoboxes are skinnier than the Echo's 65.4-inch width. Yet standing 59.1 inches tall, it towers over every economy car but VW's fishbowl New Beetle, a fact you might easily surmise by glancing at the tall greenhouse.

That height allowed Toyota to include an interior package that's not as tight as the Echo's small footprint might suggest. The front interior volume is 49 cubic feet, and in the rear, the Echo offers 39 cubic feet of space. That puts it midpack in its class and affords reasonable space for four people, although five adults are a definite crowd. The tall trunk holds 14 cubic feet of cargo, which equals or exceeds all but the hatchback econoboxes.

Now, about that inexpensive price. The four-door base model we tested here starts at $10,750. But base model in this case means base -- even power steering costs $270 extra, and a digital clock is another $70. Unfortunately, those are about the only two stand-alone options. Want the $925 air conditioning? It comes bundled with $1560 worth of other stuff -- power locks and steering, a CD/cassette deck, a rear defroster, and a 60/40 split-folding rear seat -- so it's hard to keep an Echo under $13,235. Of course, that's within a few hundred dollars of a similarly priced Chevy Metro LSi or Daewoo Lanos and at least a grand or so less than similar Neons and Honda Civics.

The Echo promises to be cheap to run as well. The EPA estimates fuel economy will run between 34 and 41 miles per gallon. Even under the lead foots around here, it averaged 35 mpg. The engine only requires regular 87-octane fuel despite a lofty 10.5:1 compression ratio. And Toyota does have a great reputation for building reliable cars.

The Echo's sophisticated 108-hp, 1.5-liter four-banger out powers many of its competitors, and the Echo's quick performance is helped by its light weight. The 2128-pound Echo hits 60 mph in 8.5 seconds, more than a second faster than our last Sephia and 0.2 second ahead of a Dodge Neon. The Echo was not, however, as quick as the Neon in the quarter-mile run, but only by a hair -- 16.7 seconds, 0.1 second behind the Dodge. Top speed is governed to 112.

We won't repeat the host of small refinements we wrote about in our October 1999 issue that account for its overall hustle. All you need to know is that the little engine revs to its 6500-rpm rev limiter eagerly and smoothly. Unfortunately, you won't know how fast the engine is spinning -- a tachometer is not offered. We think a tach is a must, given this motor's revvy nature. At a minimum, Toyota should have marked the speedometer with shift points so the driver would have at least minimal info to indicate when it's time to shift.

The standard five-speed manual transmission (a four-speed automatic is an $800 option) snicks into its gears so smoothly that there's zero chance of missing a shift. On the downside, the shifter has a lifeless, stuck-in-the-mud feel.

Although the Echo can compete in acceleration with compacts like the Neon, it doesn't corner as well as the big boys. Skidpad grip, at 0.77 g, ranks squarely in entry-level territory. The Echo feels like what it is -- a high, short-length sedan on skinny tires. There's a good amount of body roll, and the tires tend to squeal when charging around off-ramps. The body roll isn't offensive, however, and the Echo doesn't bob around when you lift off the gas in a turn; rather, it obediently tucks in the front end. What's rewarding about driving the cars in this class is the fact that you can wring out every last ounce of their limited performance on your way to work, something we wouldn't recommend you do in, say, a Corvette. And there's lots more performance to wring from this Echo than you'll find in a Chevy Metro or Daewoo Lanos.

We also appreciated the firm brake pedal. Our car came with yet another option: the $590 anti-lock brakes, which stopped the Echo from 70 mph in 193 feet.

As for its styling, we didn't notice pedestrians and other drivers, young or old, swiveling their heads to get a better look. But let's give Toyota credit for coming up with an original shape.

Up front, the niftiest aspect of the Echo is the five storage compartments in the dash and the doors, and that doesn't include its two glove boxes. The instrument binnacle, which is positioned in the middle of the dash instead of in front of the driver, is interesting at first glance but soon gets plain weird, especially at night when the dash area in front of the steering wheel is unlit. The flat seats are firm, and all the needed controls fall right to hand.

As small, low-priced cars go, the Echo is excellent transportation -- provided you don't load it up with every option, at which point the bigger compacts may make more sense. It's relatively quick and comfortable, and it fully utilizes every inch of its small dimensions. Who knows? Maybe that, plus its original styling and funky center gauge cluster, will make the Echo the hottest item since Pokemon cards.

DON SCHROEDERCall me weird, but I find minimalist econoboxes anything but dull and boring. These cars say more about their manufacturers than do prestige and sports cars. How much importance, for example, is placed on packaging? Does it come at the expense of attractive design? How is the power/fuel-economy trade-off managed? Is money obviously spent on refinement? The Echo tells me Toyota thinks its customers expect decent power, room, and refinement from their econoboxes and that they'll be willing to compromise a bit on styling, fuel economy, and price to get those virtues. A respectable effort it is, but I suspect Ford's larger Focus may be more on target.

PATTI MAKIThis is an economy car with skinny tires, so don't expect the handling to be sparkling. The shift and the clutch linkage are buttery smooth, though, which makes driving this little car less of a chore than an enthusiast might imagine. And if you're an enthusiast on a budget, you could be happy with the Echo's 108-hp DOHC VVT-i four and up to 41 mpg. Power windows are not available, but you can opt for an AM/FM/cassette stereo with a CD player (at a fairly steep $2485, with A/C and a zillion other gizmos). And go for the four-door -- the opening to the rear is narrow enough with a door, never mind trying to contort your way into the back of the two-door.

CORA WEBERHow an economy car drives and looks for its price -- and its gas mileage -- are the serious issues, not its 0-to-60 time and its top speed. The Echo goes about the basics with few nits to pick, although it doesn't feel as well planted as a VW Golf with 15-inch tires or a New Beetle with 16-inchers, nor does it ride as smoothly as the longer-wheelbase Focus. A loaded Echo is priced similarly to the Focus and the Neon (VWs cost more), but the detailing on the Focus takes some getting used to, and the new Neon's looks wear thin quickly. The Echo might not be as good-looking as a New Beetle, but it gets better mileage and has more trunk space.

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